Inside Dementia’s Martha Stettinius Writes for Alzheimers Caregivers

I loved Martha Stettinius’ book Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter’s Memoir from the very first page.

(And NO! she hasn’t paid me to say that. I call it like I see it, and this book is a great read for anyone who has been, is now, or soon will be caring for someone with Alzheimers dementia.

Even those who have been through the journey to the end will get something from the book.)

Inside the Dementia Epidemic is honest, heartfelt and touching without being depressing, saccharin or soppy.

That’s important when your primary audience comprises caregivers, many of whom deal with more than enough heart wrenching every day.

Of course there are many joys in caregiving as well. As Stettinius shares in her book, being a caregiver can be healing as well as hellish.

Stettinius’ writing is crisp, lively and conversational; it draws you into the narrative from page one and holds your hand lightly all the way through.

She includes a ton of useful resources at the end, thus avoiding too much clutter in the meat of the memoir. The result is exactly what Stettinius set out to achieve: helpful, hopeful and uplifting.

I was so taken with Stettinius’ story and the way she framed it in the book that I asked if she might take a few moments to talk with me about the process of writing it.

Here’s a short clip from our Skype conversation (more to follow in the future):

After agreeing that well-written, interesting stories about Alzheimer’s, dementia and caregiving can be hard to find despite the rising tide of information and memoirs now on the market, we swapped emails about some of those we personally found most useful and enjoyable.

Read about our joint list of 7 favourite Alzheimers- dementia-related memoirs here.

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